When it comes to league wide respect, Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper would fit in well with the late Rodney Dangerfield. Of course, they haven't done themselves any favors in earning that respect. While looking around the interwebs at how various websites rank our two starters, some of the rankings are pretty eye opening.

The Bleacher Report's Matt Miller took the time to rank his top 75 safeties in the NFL for 2013. Not top 30. Not top 50. TOP 75! (Check it out here) Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper DID NOT EVEN MAKE THE LIST! He is basically saying that we would be better off with guys like Eric Hagg, Ricardo Silva, Matt Giordano, and Craig Dahl. Now, if you're looking for someone to be critical of our safety play for the past season or so, then I'm your guy. But to say that Jenkins and Harper are not among the top 75 safeties in football is just plain ignorance. I mean, 2012 was pretty bad, but c'mon man!

The New Orleans Saint safeties are hoping to dance to a different tune in 2013. (Aretha Franklin anyone?) With Rob Ryan's new defensive philosophy, this safety dance may be more like a square dance, where multiple players will have an effect on the outcome. To start the 2012 season, Ryan had five cornerbacks and five safeties. I assume we will see this again in 2013, which means the 5th safety spot will be a very interesting battle between three capable participants.

PRESEASON LOCKS AT THE SAFETY POSITION:

Malcolm Jenkins

Of all the safeties on the Saints roster, Malcolm Jenkins may be the hardest one to figure out. As the top cornerback available in the 2009 draft and part of a defense that sees a lot of balls thrown their way, you would think that Jenkins would be ranked among the top 10-15 safeties in the league in pass deflections. He was tied for 22nd with 7, along with teammate Isa Abdul-Quddus and a few others (like Usama Young for example). Granted, he did miss four games, but considering the volume of passes that he sees and the fact that 3 of those 7 deflections were in one game, its shocking that the former Ohio State All-American cornerback isn't involved in breaking up more pass plays.

Another shocking stat is brought to us by Pro Football Focus, who after 8 weeks (7 Saints games) in 2012, evaluated tackle efficiency among safeties (link here). Among the players who qualified for this stat, Jenkins was 60th out of 67 safeties. Now I don't believe that this particular stat says it all, but it was pretty shocking to see how many tackles he missed in 7 games (13). When you see the big hits and look on paper and see 94 tackles in 12 games, it's easy to praise the man for being a good tackler. However, his number of missed tackles MUST come down in 2013.

While the Saints allowed 1st downs and TDs at an unacceptable rate in 2012, Jenkins did not do much to help the cause. On a per coverage snap basis, Jenkins allowed a first down or TD 4.29% of the time, which was 9th worst among qualifying safeties. As I mentioned before, the corners and safeties did not do each other any favors in 2012 and its time for a talented veteran like Jenkins to step his game up.

What to watch: Jenkins is far too talented to have a repeat of his disappointing 2012 season. I believe that Ryan knows this and will have this guy all over the field. I'm anxious to see if he actually lines up in the "nickel" position against teams like the Falcons, who have a big back in Steven Jackson and solid route runners in Julio Jones, Roddy White, and Harry Douglas. I do believe that he is a good tackler and may benefit in playing various roles on defense. If he fails to improve, he may see less time on the field and we could see some of the younger guys get more snaps.

Please just take Malcolm Jenkins off the roster..........that alone is an automatic upgrade right there.

Danno

07-11-2013 06:13 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Safety Preview

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rugby Saint II
(Post 510831)

Please just take Malcolm Jenkins off the roster..........that alone is an automatic upgrade right there.

The only reason he's still a starter is quite a big one.

No one has proven to be better than he is.

halloween 65

07-11-2013 08:14 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Safety Preview

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danno
(Post 510837)

The only reason he's still a starter is quite a big one.

No one has proven to be better than he is.

I kind of disagee with that, in a few games last year IAQ played FS much,much better and I also feel that if no draft statue is played, Q is well on his way to start at FS, he;s got much better field play.

|Mitch|

07-11-2013 08:25 PM

Re: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Safety Preview

Jenkins and Harper; hell the whole defense gets a pass for last year. It's kind of hard to play in a system that you do not believe in.

Jenkins & Harper looked better in the Williams' scheme, let's see how they play for RR...

hagan714

07-12-2013 12:47 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Safety Preview

well contracts are ending and the fight is on.
We can not afford to carry over any dead cap money again next year so look at contracts once again being the driving issue for all positions through 2013.
Cap is worse next year compared to this. i will wait and talk about that at seasons end.
This year depth and PS are the fun game to watch

rezburna

07-12-2013 12:52 AM

Re: New Orleans Saints Roster 2013: Safety Preview

They might as well see what Jenkins can do at corner and let Vacarro start FS. We hindered his development after our desperate need to find a Sharper replacement. He wasn't a bad looking cornerback as a rookie. He's big. He's strong. He's fast enough. Great ball skills. I feel like his skill set is better for safety, but if it isn't working out move him back and see what he does. I want to believe in him. I was so happy when we drafted him. I thought he'd be a turnover machine.